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Barton would have gotten a message "Levain Bakery. Bring your adorable self, I owe you pastries. - the nice blonde nurse.". There would be a time, date, and so on attached, and Thea would make sure to be there a little early. She's got the stool at the end, up against the wall, a coffee and a cinnamon roll on the counter in front of her while she waits.
Food was promised by the nice blonde nurse? Clint chuckles to himself over the message and shows up fifteen minutes early because, well, he expected to be late with his luck, but he wasn't caught in a fight on the way, so he's actually early. An engulfing gray wool coat keeping him warm and plum scarf wrapped around his neck neatly, Clint winks at Thea as he peers in the big open windows in front. Pulling the door open, he strolls right over to her seat and takes the opposite. "Technically, you owe me a sandwich. But I like this place."
"Well, I do. I can buy you a loaf of fresher bread than you've probably ever had, then take you to get a pound of whatever down the road." Thea sips at her coffee. "What do you want to start with?" She asks, head tilting with a smirk. "I feel I owe you something, so.." Blonde hair is loose in little rippling waves over her black peacoat that's unbuttoned over a dark green silk blouse.
The edges of Clint's ears are red, but he is all that is man so that shit doesn't bother him. Already yanking off his scarf in big handfuls, the archer smiles smoothly at Thea, piling the dark-colored scarf up on the table beside him. "That's true. Bread is a major part of the sandwich. I've heard of this place, too. It's supposed to be legendary." Stormy eyes sweep over the whole of the bakery before coming back to Thea. "And you're looking nice, Pretty Blond Nurse. Not that you need me to tell you that. Something warm to drink would be a good jumping off point. How's the coffee?"
"The coffee is hot, and not bitter. Good enough?" She offers him a grin, winking at him. "Look at you, flattering me again. What will I do with you, Clint?" She'll sip at her coffee, sliding her cinnamon roll a little closer. "Try some of that. It's like edible sin."
"That's some dangerously high praise," Clint says of the cinnamon roll as it's offere up as sacrifice, already eyeing the sticky piece of yum with trepidation, tossing a lean of a smile to Thea. Without blinking, he states. "I've had edible sin before. That's a tall order." Then coolly reaching over to pinch a bit of the roll off and pop it into his mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully.
Thea laughs, almost going all glowing on him. "Edible sins are just like real ones, aren't they? They come in varying degrees?" She teases, leaning back a bit and watching him. "Your ribs are a lot better."
Smiling for a flash of pearly whites, Clint holds back on a chuckle and licks his lower lip, thumbing a little bit of frosting off the corner of his mouth. "There's some variance, I guess. But there's still gotta be standards. Can't go around calling everything that doesn't make you want to cut your tongue out 'edible sin'. But this is good. You're right. And my ribs are only edible if you put bbq sauce on them. I'm sort of attached to them right now."
"I prefer my bbq out of a place in Harlem someone showed me once." Thea responds. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance sooner to catch up and follow up with you. Holidays make everything so much busier. I don't know why so many people like them so much." She'll sip her coffee. "How's …everything?"
"Really?" Clint draws his brows up and looks around them, gesturing widely around them. "Harlem has some of the best food around, don't you think so? I get my hair cut by this guy down in spanish harlem. His uncle makes the best, uh, what're they called? Tamales? Wrapped up heaven. But Harlem's where you got to go if you want good food." Emphatic and eager on the subject of food, he drapes his arm back over his seat back, leaning back comfortably with an easy smile for Thea. "Yeah Holidays are always busy for folks. I don't mind." He shrugs a broad shoulder. "People got families and stuff. I get it." No he doesn't. There's an ease in his tone that says clearly that he doesn't get the seriousness of not going to Aunt June's house on Christmas Eve, then Grandma Miller's on Christmas. And if you forget the office New Year's party, you'll never hear the end of it from your section head.
"You know, it's everything. The world's still spinning as of an hour ago, so no complaints." When he says 'an hour', Clint pops out his arm and makes a show as if to look at a watch that isn't on his wrist, not even glancing down at it. "The city's had the shit beaten out of it lately, between aliens, dragons, terrorists and everything. People are feeling pretty kicked. How're you holding up? Holidays?"
"I didn't have that whole family thing. My parents took my brother with them on vacation to Greece and some other fun spots." Thea smiles at him, amused as she had been before. "But lots more people seem to end up in the ER around the holidays. So.. I took some shifts for girls I know with kids, that kind of thing." There's a hint of a shrug. "But um.. yeah. As for the owing. I sort of.. there's this.. Oh god, I don't know what I'm saying." The biokinetic nurse is blushing.
"Fancy," Clint says appreciatively of the trip to Greece without anyreal connection to the idea. He's not dazzled by the idea of venturing off to far away places or big family trips. The archer's feet are planted firmly where he is. "That was nice of you. I guess that's why they call you the nice blond nurse, huh?"
Clint twists in his seat, glancing back for an employee. "Coffee? Please? Do I gotta come up there for it? That's no problem, man—" Entitled white guy in a harlem bakery asking for coffee, Clint's got no problem getting up, but he's waved away and soon brought a cup to steam himself over while Thea blushes. Smiling bemusedly, his grin flashes wide and earnest. "Wow, a-are you /blushing/? Now I'm curious."
Thea rolls her eyes, shaking her head at him, but that blush does not abate. "Well, you remember the last time we talked, I'm sure. Egg salad man." There's a quick smile, even as she looks away. "I was relating the story to someone.. " She sips her coffee, looking at him. "There's someone I've been.. seeing, I guess you would say. Casually. I thought he had.. other ladies. We just have fun together."
"I remember not getting a sandwich, and then having a stimulating sparring match with a pretty little thing in medical." Clint admits with a leading smile. The more flustered she gets, the more secure that Clint seems in his chair. And now with coffee, he is /set/!
"Mm hmm," the archer prompts with a lack of hyperverbal response while Thea sort of stumbles through her explanation. "You thought?"
"Thought he had other ladies he was seeing. No pressure kind of thing." Thea wraps both her hands around her coffee mug. "He.. got jealous. Only way to describe it. Told me if he screwed up and let me waltz off into the arms of a pretty boy spy, he'd regret it." She's almost crimson cheeked now.
Understanding starts to slowly light up behind the stormy glass of Clint's eyes, like stained glass on a cloudy day, the amusement sparkles. "So, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too, but the second he thought that you might do the same, he got jealous and decided he was finally ready, because he felt threatened." Clint perks an eyebrow and taps a finger on the table top, licking a corner of his mouth. "Well. That's. Insulting. But all right." Chuckling softly.
"Well no. I told him that I thought he had other ladies. Apparently.. I was wrong. He did at first, but not for a while, now." Thea keeps running a finger around the rim of her mug. "But he hasn't had great luck with love and ladies, so he didn't want to push me." There's a sigh. "Apparently he felt threatened enough by how I talked about you." That flush continues.
"Well, now I'm flattered," Clint shrugs mildly, swinging the pendulum from one end to the other casually without a whole lot of investment in either end. "So long as he isn't jerking you around, I guess. I get sick of seeing these assholescuse me, but assholemen with their harems who don't figure what's good for the gander is also good for the goose. Believe me, I've been on the receiving end of a fist or two because of that bologna." Who the hell ever thought that Clint would be chatting up equal rights under the guise of 'don't screw around if you don't want to be screwed around on'.
"He's…not the jerking around type. He's pretty much straightforward and blunt as hell." There's a hint of a smile, before she glances at him. "He doesn't flirt as well as you do. I hope you won't stop flirting with me, even if I can't ask you out now, like I thought about. But if he's a jerk, I'll let you know if I need back up." She smiles. at him. "He decides he doesn't want to be exclusive, you'll be first to know."
"To be fair to the guy, a lot of people don't flirt as well as I do," Clint responds airily, his expression smooth and as trouble-free as before. It really doesn't seem to scratch any part of him to be told off. Chuckling with the same dry warmth he easily embodies. "So you want me to rev your engine, but I don't get to drive anywhere because your chauffeur doesn't like people touching the chassis. Well now that is a tempting, tempting offer." His tongue firmly planted in cheek.
Thea blinks, staring at him a moment. "That's not how I meant it. I don't need anyone revving my engine, thank you. I just enjoy the banter. But if you don't want to have fun, have a few laughs, because it won't get you laid, that's fine."
"That isn't what I'm saying," Clint doesn't scramble to say, pacing himself casually with a lifted hand from his coffee cup. He then pauses and thinks about it a moment. "Okay, it's a little bit of what I'm saying, but not all of it." He admits freely. "I'll sit back and shoot the breeze with anyone, I've got no problem with it. I sleep just fine at night, whether I go home alone or not. But if the guy's already jealous because I was flirting with you, I like to plan my odds over visiting you in medical because your boyfriend didn't like the way I looked at you. That's all I'm saying."
There's a faint glare in brown eyes. "Oh good lord. He's not going to hit you because we flirt. He's not that type. He understands flirting is often just that, and for gentlemen of your profession, it's a bit like breathing. He and I already discussed the whole idea that I'm likely to still flirt. He also knows me well enough to know that if he did any such thing, I would kick his ass."
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Clint chuckles through his words, an innocent touch of his fingers dead center to his own chest. "You can't get angry at me for being worried about my own skin. I'm squishy, you know this first hand, huh?"
"I'm offended that you think I would date a pinhead that would punch someone I work with, someone that I enjoy talking to, because of something trivial." She finishes her coffee, politely gesturing to ask for another. "Squishy skin, concrete head." She mutters, giving him a look. "Why did I want to ask you out to dinner, again?"
"Really, he should be the offended one. Men are a lot sneakier than women think. Plus you've all got good hearts and kindness sewn into you so you want to believe the best in people when I'm sure most of them don't deserve it. So, really, I'm just saying you want to think the best of someone and I'm saying I've been hit by a lot of men." Clint remarks glibly and scrubs a hand through his hair. "Because I'm good looking, fun, dangerous, complicated and think your 'go-suck-an-egg' independence and humor is really sexy?"
"You may think I have all the good and kindness in me, but he also knows I can be a complete and total bitch, when I need to. " Thea will smile as her refill is brought, a quiet smile. "He's made sure I know what a dick he can be. He's the straightforward and blunt type, like I said." There's a sigh. "You know you're cute, what's worse." There's a faint flush. "You just like that I don't swoon at your charm and looks." She says, slightly tart.
Clint laughs, "Oh, no, did you miss the part where I was trying to be polite and didn't say 'go-fuck-yourself' in public? Because that's what I meant if it was too subtle. You make it pretty clear right off the bat that you've got claws." A polite smile for the refilling of Coffee. Mmmmm coffee. "Eh, what can I say? I like a woman who doesn't fall over with a hard breeze. Makes things fun. Makes things ridiculously fun in some situations." Maintaining eye contact over the rim of his coffee cup as Clint draws it up for a long drink, resuming normalcy after he sets it back down.
She'll hold that eye contact. "Oh, come on now, handsome. Don't go trying to get me all twitterpated now." She says quietly. "You made it necessary to reveal the claws, you polished flirt. I generally try to hide them a little bit better than that." There's a wink with that. "Stop making me kick myself that not asking you out first before I agreed is my only regret."
"By the sounds of it, I don't need to /try/ to do anything," Clint counters merrily, setting his cup down and folding his arms loosely over his broad chest as he sits back. "And I refuse to stop, you're the one who got all incensed over the idea that I might actually not want to keep going because it'll upset Mr. Tightass. You're screwed now, I'm afraid."
Thea bursts into laughter, not even caring as people maybe turn to look. "Oh, Barton, you adorable, stubborn, damage prone archer. The things you say." She grins, eyes lit up. "Maybe it is better this way. I mean.. otherwise I might have been tempted to fall for you, and then you'd have broken my heart.. and that who knows what of yours I'd have to break."
"Well, chances are I've already had it broken before so I've got that going for me," Clint shrugs it off with an easy air. "Going to get broken anyway." He scratches light behind his ear. "Might as well get it done over something worth it instead of the normal crap that gets me laid up. Oh well."
"Stop toying with my heart. It's not nice, honey." She grins over her coffee, before she's draining most of her cup. "You're far too tempting as it is." She'll move to scoot out of her seat, rising to her feet. She'll move to cup Clint's face, and place a fairly innocent kiss to his mouth. "You make me wonder too much." She'll whisper, before there's a 50 bill dropped on the table. "Eat yourself sick with cookies, Clint. I'll see you later?"
"By the sounds of it, I couldn't toy with your heart if I wanted to," Clint holds his hands up in an innocent claim while she stands up. His hands stay where they areto his creditbut like a villain, Clint doesn't know how to kiss innocently, so he nibbles light Thea's lower lip before she pulls back. He stays stationary, though, smiling vaguely to himself. "Yep. 15% chance I won't even be bleeding when you do."
"You could. Probably a little easier than I'd like to admit, being the independent type, and recently.. gone exclusive." She'll ruffle his hair, a soft sigh. "Damnit. And be careful, huh? Ask someone to call me if I'm not there, so you get taken care of."